Recommendations contained in an independent operational review, commissioned by Council on the Wye Creek fire (16-22 March 2008), had now been either implemented or were to be implemented Queenstown Lakes District Council principal rural fire officer Gordon Bailey said.

“I requested this review to be undertaken independently by the National Rural Fire Authority for a number of reasons but mainly to enable Council to plan better for larger fires and to review resources and responsibilities,” Mr Bailey said.

For the Council the purpose of the document was to use the Wye Creek fire to learn and progress the Council’s rural fire responsibilities, which it assumed after the Wye Creek Fire in July 2008.

“In some respects the fire came just prior to a time of up skilling for the Council team, which has now taken over the role of fire fighting, previously held by a contractor agent,” Mr Bailey said.

The body of the report contained a number of recommendations ranging from improved fire weather monitoring and training on points of origin, to implementing a Co-ordinated Implement Management System (CIMS). “The rewarding thing is that we were actually able to go through those recommendations like a checklist and found that all had either been implemented or were in hand,” Mr Bailey said.

Since the Wye Creek Fire staff had:

• Undertaken a fire danger rating course.
• Introduced a fully operative Co-ordinated Implement Management System with intensive training over the last six months.
• Scheduled points of origin training for Lakes Environmental staff.
• Established new fire fighting contracts.
• Implemented Met Connect data monitoring.
• Delegated the role of Incident Controller.
• Delegated a financial accountability role.
• Installed Council radio band.
• Implemented best practice procedures for management structure.

Continued investment in training, time and equipment had also been undertaken with the four volunteer rural fire forces, which were also critical to rural fire fighting. “I’m confident that our fire readiness is in excellent shape,” Mr Bailey said.

ENDS

For further information please contact Gordon Bailey 027 4423126.

Please Note: The full report is available the Queenstown Council office.

By: QLDC